USA- tales from the river

How do you decribe one of the best holidays you have ever had?

Well I'll have a go.

I went to stay with my French/Tunisian friend Annabelle, who I have known more or less since I arrived in Paris in 98. She left to live in the most beautiful place-Conway, Washington State, USA, 3 years ago. She followed her heart to the other side of the world to live with Eddie, who she met on the Internet. From a small one-bedroom apartment in Paris, she now lives on a houseboat on the Skagit River, surrounded by amazing scenery and good vibes. see her blog http://riverspiritwalela.blogspot.com/

I hadn't seen Annabelle for 3 years and it was like we had never been apart. She's a really important person in my life and an amazing person.

Here's my adventures.

First of all I survived the flight. I am scared of flying and am quite proud of myself for not having panicked too much during the 14 hours I spent in a metal box in the middle of the air! I did get through 5 full length feature films, 2 books and several small bottles of wine to keep myself occupied!

Annabelle picked me up at the airport with Eddie and she hadn't changed. Still tiny, bubbly, pretty, she had just had another friend over for 2 weeks and was also playing host to me straight after- needless to say she was beaming! Over a month with old Parisian friends means a lot.

My home for the 2 weeks was a camper van on the bank of the river. Needless to say it took a bit getting used to, especially with all the noises of the countryside at night- i.e. groups of hyenas not far away screaming(laughing) at the top of their voices, the wind in the trees, the rain on the roof, the night-train etc. it sounds worse than it was, it was an adventure, but it was in the middle of nowhere- many a slasher movie sprang to mind the first few nights...

The holiday got off to a great start- the first day there we had a picnic in Shelter Bay- this is on an Indian Reservation- over looking the River, as everything is here!

I had this image that reservations were huge vast expanses of orange earth with dissipated houses but not at all(how naive of me!). A reservation is land that belongs to the Indians and that land can be of all terrains- the ones around there were beautiful, green, tree filled areas, some overlooking the river/sea, stretching for miles. Lots of people who live on the reservations are white, they have a lease for 25/50 years- they can own the house but not the land on which it is.
That's another thing that I discovered: "manufactured homes"! Homes that can de TRANSPORTED! If you want to move you just get you house picked up and transported to the area where you want to go! Those Americans think of everything!

The first Thursday there was Annabelle's art exhibition. Before that we spent a lot of time finishing off the paintings: framing, painting the sides, putting the wire on, hanging them etc etc etc...
The show was lovely, so sweet. It was held in a small gallery(which had religious and AA connections (I'm surprised I wasn't struck down in a double whammy!) at the back of a furniture/craft store in the most gorgeous little wooden building, the shop sells ethnic objects and furniture, the kind of place that has arts and crafts from around the world... She sold one that night which is great for a first show and I think she's sold more since.
Quite a lot of people came, especially from the "French Circle" that Annabelle belongs to. A group of people who love French and meet up once a month to talk French/watch French films etc. They also had a picnic on the 9th September on one of the islands there that I went to.

The holiday was one long list of lunches, parties, dinners, bbqs- the best one was the second weekend.

We went to a party on one of the little islands here, Michael is an artist (as many/most people are around here) and held his annual party- we stayed overnight, camping out, it was amazing. He has 19 acres of land on an island, 2 workshops, a beautiful little house and gorgeous gardens, his house has no electricity or heating but he lives like that for most of the year. His art work is beautiful and I bought one of his paintings for a bargain 70$. I met lots of artists and crazy people that night. We had to go on boat to the island(like parking up but you dock your boat!) and one of the guests arrived with his son, and his boat capsized! We all had to help to keep the boat from sinking and try and save all his personal affairs- unbelievable! Two men were naked within about 15 minutes of me being there because they had to change into new clothes- but no luck for me, their combind age was around 120!
We ate great food and sang around the fire, it was another world! I met so many amazing people that night who had lived and done so many different thinngs. The majority were artists of some sort- some very well renown in the State and neighbouring areas. We had such a laugh! Of course I sang. Some said it was the best one they had ever benn to there and Michael's been holding his party for 20 years. Something strange happened that night, great connections, emotion.

From that night I got 2 invitations. The first was Michael and Cathy who invited us on his boat (The "Shrimp") another day to go to a few of the islands here-we had a picnic on one island and then went onto the island where Cathy lives to visit another couple of artists- one Allen Moe, lives in the middle of the woods- in an old 50s metal trailer, converted - with his workshop outside- he has a website but he lives like with such rudimentary means!! www.allenmoe.com. Amongst other things, he makes objects out of dead animals- sounds gorey but go and check out his website and you'll want one of his creation. Cathy, a sweet tiny woman, herself is an artist and is well known in the area- I love her work but couldn't afford it! Have a look at what she does too. http://waterworksgallery.com/artistbios/schoenberg/schoenberg.shtml.

The third artist we visited was an obviously very successful sculptor, judging by the beautiful house/workshop she had- it was amazing and her work fascinating- once again the only problem was the price! www.suerobertssculpture.com

On this little trip I saw seals and dolphins, it was breathtaking.

The second invitation was to go to dinner at Chris and Toms' house- a beautiful 1890 home which used to be the town dancehall as well as many other things. Once again amazingly interesting, cultured people. We had a gorgeous meal and home made apple pie with cream and I met their daughter who was my age and a bright intelligent girl-her husband is Haitian had she had the most beautiful coffee-cream children. Chris is also a lovely, loving woman who is so interesting, with a touch of craziness that I love. That night as well as getting attacked by mosquitos, we went to another exhibition in a gallery in the village. Edison: population 200, art galleries: 3! Yes you could say that I saw a hell of a lot of art during these holidays!

I have lost count of the numerous brunches/lunches/meals I had in different places. One of my favourites was an old fashioned petrol station (gas station as they call it) now which also has a great shop and restaurant attached to it. The Rexville. They had food products from all around the world and a small terrace out the back. Harley Davidsons would roll up and their riders would stop off for a coffee/drink. A cosy place of passage. We went to the brewery, the Thai house, the Mexican bus (most things are in English and Spanish everywhere as there are so many Mexicans), 2 other Mexcian family restaurants and the list goes on-amazingly I didn't put any weight on-bonus!

The area were I was is also a place where people eat really healthily-there's lots of organic food and alternative remedies- yes it was more or less a huge hippie community and it was great!

As well as going many times just to drop in, we also went to Annabelle's regular spot-"Cafe Culture"-an artsy, left-wing cafe that, where non-typical/stereotypical Americans hang-out,i.e. not religious Republicans! but more open minded Liberals.

Works of art dot the walls, piles of newspapers cover the big 1950s table in the middle of the room, stickers such as "no friend of ours drinks Starbucks", give the place a cosy, homely feel- with a slight political edge.

One night I ended up jamming with 2 old hippes at the Open Mic singinng my heart out to an audience of hippes, artists and local yokles, it was hilarious!

I saw so many other things, I've went to the Cascade mountain range- so close to the Canadian border- winding roads, turquoise blue lakes, eagles flying above, bears lurking in the woods-absolutely stunning, the vasteness and the mass just takes your breath away.

I also went to lots of one-horse towns. It was hilarious, just like in the teen slasher movie films- one main street with flat fronted buildings, with the most bizarre array of shops- totally random, like: Police Station, woodwork shop, pawn shop, bar and accessories for dogs and that's about it! We went to one tiny place called Lyman, the event of the week was "1$ burger night with music" in the only bar- it was the town that the film Footloose (my favourite film of all time- I was so chuffed to have been in the place that inspired it!) was based on-i.e. dancing was banned because it was against the Lord's will- too sexy and not Christian enough! It didn't surprise thought that it was the inspiration, you should have seen it!

Religion is omni-present and churches try and sell themselves like commodities- the sign boards outside hosting slogans which change weekly, enticing people to come in and save themselves. No I didn't become a born-again Christian while I was there!

Of course I went shopping- I couldn't resist and treat myself to things varying from clothes to jewellery to paintings to accessories to beauty products to decorative objects to books to to to!!. Anyone who knows me will not be surprised! But the Euro is so strong against the dollar that it was so cheap! That's my excuse. Anyway I love Walmart and I don't care what anyone thinks!

We did so much in the 18 days I was there- it felt like I lived there. 2 of the people I met are coming to Paris soon and I'm meeting them. I miss it so much, although they probably dream of coming to live in Paris. The grass is always greener...

Stunning countryside, beautiful mountains, mysterious rivers, artists everywhere you go-such a unique and inspiring place-it won't be 3 years before I go back

Dare I say "God Bless America"???